Factory Five Roadster Build Part 7: Project Snake Charmer

Once our Nitto tires arrived, we had them mounted to our Mustang Tuning FR500 rims and bolted the rims up to make our Roadster project a roller. This is the first time the chassis has been outside the garage since we took delivery of it in February. We still have to finish routing our brake hard lines and decide on a master cylinder, but for now our project can easily roll in and out for continued work.

The BRS kit uses a special mounting system with a nylon slip-clutch. This allows the tri-bar to be rotated for lug-nut access, cleaning, or positioning the tri-bar for displays. The steel spring and attaching bolt are assembled from the rear of the wheel.

Due to the recessed depth of the FR500 center cap area, BRS has to machine a special spacer so the tri-bar won't hit the wheel spokes. They come in a bare machined finish and can be painted, powdercoated, polished, or left bare. We simply polished ours to match the chrome tri-bar and added the O-ring you see here to prevent scratching the wheel.

The base of the spinner assembly, along with the nylon slip-clutch, is seated over the FR500 specific spacer last, and a nylock nut is installed. Follow the directions carefully so the tri-bar is tight, but not too tight to turn by hand.

The finished front and rear wheels look completely different with the addition of the BRS tri-bar center-cap setup. The tri-bar itself is secured with a hidden Allen-head set screw for theft prevention. The FFR "5" logo center was something that came with our wheels and is not available from BRS, though the company does have several styles of center caps for your own FFR project or classic Ford with late-model wheels.